Word: carbonic
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...scientists dissolved a little ferrous sulphate and carbon dioxide in pure water, enclosed it in a specially designed glass cell, and exposed it to a high-energy helium ion beam from a cyclotron. Analysis showed that a little of the carbon dioxide combined with water to produce formic acid and formaldehyde. Scientists have long known that solutions of formaldehyde sometimes turn into sugar...
There were no cyclotrons, of course, when the earth was young and lifeless, but the ocean water probably contained carbon dioxide and a variety of other inorganic chemicals. High-energy radiation from cosmic rays and other sources might have impregnated this virgin solution as it does today. It seems quite possible that it created formaldehyde. Then, in a billion years or so, this simple stuff may have turned into sugars, proteins, and at last into living particles...
Snug Atoms. Organic chemistry deals with carbon compounds like those found in living organisms. Most of them have long chains or rings of carbon atoms with one atom or more of hydrogen attached to each carbon atom. Fluorine atoms are heavier than hydrogen, but they are about the same size, and they fit snugly into the molecule without disturbing the existing arrangement of the carbon atoms. The result of replacing the hydrogen atoms in the molecule with fluorine is a compound which resembles the organic original in some respects. But the new fluorochemical has different and sometimes remarkable properties...
Where There's Smoke. In McKeesport, Pa., fellow firemen revived William McWharton after he was knocked out by carbon monoxide fumes while riding in the fire company's rescue...
...living organisms get a small amount of carbon 14 from the atmosphere, where it is formed by cosmic rays. When the organism dies or is buried, the carbon 14 slowly disappears. The amount that has disappeared is a fair measure of the time that has passed since the organism died or stopped growing...